Rising Triumvirate
by Noneofyourdamnbuisness14
Summary: Few pacts are stronger than family, and soon this one will be embroiled in a world from which they know naught. Can they manage? Or will the weight of the truth crush them? OC additions to original story beats. Slowly more AU as the story progresses.


One

Under kinder conditions the Southern Karakura Cemetery was, in the grander scheme of things, actually rather nice in comparison to the myriad run down grave sites that occupied the greater area. Smooth, if not questionably sturdy, steel fencing surrounded the various tombstones that stood upright in relative states of polish. The grass, while beginning to grow a tad tall, was uniform for the most part, and the park benches were clean of bird droppings. Most of all, near the northern section of the surprisingly vast lot, stood three brilliant mausoleums.

So, despite the frigid mid-November chill piercing the misting sundown, the three migrating children huddling together for warmth could somewhat appreciate the care put into their object of attention. As the dying beams of orange haze cast long shadows on everything, the various epitaphs slowly became less decipherable as darkness swallowed the last vestiges of the day, naught but a flickering lamp post remaining to illuminate the various tombstones.

The tallest of the minute retinue slowly dethatched himself from the group, adjusting his faded and patched windbreaker to adjust to the icy bite of the night. Stepping towards a pair of uniform markers they produced a small collection of daises, placing them at the base of the leftmost stone with little agency. Quickly pulling back the hood, blonde hair spilled down his face as the teenage boy plucked strands from his eyes. Shooting a quick sideways glance, he began muttering under his breath, the usual routine coming to him with ease.

Quickly finding himself spent, he gestured back to the other two without looking, body becoming incredibly still as he listened for the sound of footfalls. His shoulders shrunk a bit as quickly he heard the sound of a pair of boots rushing across the crisp grass, followed by only the ambient sounds of the wind.

Crouching next to him, the smallest of the three let his grey eyes wander over the stone memoirs, shaggy brown hair poking out from within the confines of his own jacket. The child's boyish face coloured red from the chill was contorted into a look of practiced neutrality. Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a small necklace; a simple musical note pendant dangling from golden chain. Wrapping it around his wrist and palming it, he began his own well-oiled spiel, the words coming out a bit spitfire and garbled from the cold numbing his cheeks.

With his words also finished, both boys waited. Various plumes of thick vapour rose as their breathing slowly matched, tension as one boy awaited sound as the other feared it. Minutes past, before the younger of the two turned around to the last of the group, hesitant impatience written in his features.

"What'cha' waiting for Ju-ane? It's your turn ya' know." Said individual shifted slightly, a blonde braid poking out of their drawn hood, but still refusing to approach any closer. The elder boy sighed heavily, having expected this after last time. Also turning around, he rose to his full height, and gestured towards the last member.

"Junko…" Before he could continue, the final of the retinue finally removed their hood, her sharp features twisted as a soft growl escaped her throat. Sending a pointed look at the older boy, she swept over to lean against the single lamp post illuminating the affair. She took a deep breath, before focusing her glare at the tombstones the two boys were attending to. The smaller of the two was visibly confused, looking at his counterpart with trepidation.

"Jumaru, what's goin' on?" Said individual loosed a heavy cloud into the night air, opening his mouth to respond before snapping it shut. Thinking for a moment, he tried to take a diplomatic approach.

"Why don't you wait a sec, kay?" Nodding dumbly, the smallest watched as Jumaru began walking towards Junko with slight trepidation. Attempting to ignore the intense daggers being shot at the tombstones, he reached forward and hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder, grimacing internally at the immediate tensing of muscles he felt beneath the various layers. Speaking softly, he gently tried to ease her away from the light source. "Junko look, I know this can't be easy-"

He didn't make it much farther as what felt like a literal wave of anger rushed out of the blonde girl, her stormy eyes rounding on him in an instant.

"Don't even try pulling any of that crap with me Jumaru, I don't want to hear it." Jumaru quickly shot her his own stern look, cautiously looking at the youngest of the trio behind him.

"That's enough, we don't want to upset Jujirou-"

"-And you would rather we just keep coming here every month with some silly flowers? We need to-"

"-We don't _need_ to do anything, but if it helps Jujirou-"

"-Then we've already messed up." Junko looked past Jumaru and sent the youngest a cold look. "You think any of this matters? Well it doesn't, and you know that. They're de-"

"Enough!" The words were stated with authority, neither noticing as despite the welling of Jujirou's eyes he looked on in wonder. The effect wasn't as persuading on Junko however, faint wisps of fog rippling around her. Spinning on her heel, she headed back to the exit, lifting her hood back over her features. As her footsteps echoed in the distance, the abated tears of the youngest finally fell, Jumaru rushing over to comfort his brother. They just knelt together, Jumaru rubbing methodical circles on Jujirou's back, the faint rustling of leaves in the wind the only ambience.

Eventually, the sniffling stopped, and the brunette looked up at his brother, pained confusion painting his expression. "Ane-chan still hasn't said anything to papa…" He turned back to the stones, twin unassuming slabs. "Is she… mad?"

Jumaru sighed, a habit that seemed far too common for someone so young. Turning his younger brother to look at him, he brushed some eyelashes out of his face. "Look, Nee-san is just, well, look at it this way. Papa made a lot of promises to her. You know how they were, always scheming in the backyard. And now she feels like he broke his promise, so she's mad." Getting up onto his feet, he helped his brother up as well. "You know how she is when she's mad."

"…Angry?" Jumaru laughed, forgetting how difficult this must be for a 9-year-old.

"Well, yeah, that. But most of all; stubborn. She's held out longer than usual, but she'll get over this soon." Closing his eyes, he peered back the way that Junko had stormed off. A faint smile coming to his face, he helped adjust the hood on Jujirou's head. "Besides, we both know she's waiting by the entrance."

Nodding with the beginnings of a grin, Jujirou rushed back down the path, eager to get out of the suffocating cold. Standing by himself, the blonde looked skyward, exhaling a large breath he didn't realize he was holding. "6 months, huh…" Fiddling with his own clothing till the night's bite was minimal, he took a step forward before he paused as her heard a strange sound.

Whipping his head around, he caught the tail end of a shadow bounding off from behind one of the mausoleums, and before he could say anything watched as a flash of blue flickered in the same direction. Standing stock still, he waited about a minute, trying to parse what he had just seen, before sighing. "I need some damn sleep."

Approaching the entrance, he smiled as he saw Jujirou on his sister's shoulders, fast asleep as they waited for him. Walking towards them, Junko just gave him a curt nod. Raising his eyebrows, she shrugged before beginning to walk back home, the faint whispers of a rushed "sorry," floating in the air. With a final lethargic sigh, Jumaru followed, glad to just get back to his bed.

The flesh stank as the putrid odor only decaying reishi could produce wafted through the air. To those without reiatsu, it would seem a skunk had croaked in a nearby bush. To those with, it was nasty. Poking the ichor splashed glasses back in place, Uryu cracked his neck as the Hollow began to fade, the souls keeping it together having been utterly obliterated by his killing strike. Looking down at his shifting bow, he grasped the pendant tightly before hiding it in his pocket.

The creature had mentioned a name at some point, something ridiculously pointless for a being meant for obliteration. Uryu didn't think he could remember the inane mutterings if he tried. What he did remeber, however, was the bristles currently disappearing from his forearm.

Apparently, this one could also shoot.

The Quincy scoffed at the notion. While resilient, the Hollow had nothing on his own honed abilities. One thing he did realize though was his need to increase his Hirenkyaku training. If some lowlife Hollow still had the capability to hit him, he needed to up his game. Not to mention the boy at the graveyard.

Uryu frowned deeply at that. He recognized the boy from school but couldn't place why. He had made a point to memorize everyone in his class, but apparently, he now needed to continue that procedure with all those within his grade. Nevertheless, he had somehow heard him. He obviously didn't hear the Hollow, so it must have been Uryu that caused him to glance over, and that meant the Quincy had gotten sloppy.

Ryuken would have laughed at his failure.

Gritting his teeth, Uryu simply noted to allocate the majority of his time beneath the hospital to Hirenkyaku, a slight grimace as he even resolved to cut into his sewing time.

Ryuken never must know.

Happy that with the Hollow's full disintegration the smell began to abate, Uryu flashed to a nearby roof, calculating how far away from home he was.

"Twelve Steps…" With nothing more said, he bounded off in a flash of blue, intent on keeping his word.

One step in he already knew he wouldn't make it in that parameter. Halting atop a surprisingly western styled abode, he tried to discern why he couldn't get the blonde boy out of his head. Searching the farther fathoms of his memory for some mention of the boy's existence finally got him the answers he needed.

Jumaru Kazehini, eldest of three, and if his brief recollection of newspapers clippings was correct, relatively recently orphaned. A small beat of uncomfortable emotion made the Quincy waver for a moment, before steeling himself. No need to think of her.

"Probably why he was at a graveyard at midnight…" His words received no response as his garb did little to protect him from the cold. Thinking broadly, it wouldn't surprise the teen if he and his siblings had been checked into the Orphanage in the Mitsumiya district. Two of his own classmates resided there, though with a blush he filed back his reasoning for knowing that for another time. Coughing awkwardly, he took a deep breath, and adjusted his prior calculations.

"Twelve Steps." In another flash of blue, he was once again gone, though this time completely focused on the task.

To his delight, and his body's discomfort, he managed it in eleven.

Jumaru awoke to the resounding sound of his alarm, rubbing his eyes blearily before slamming a hand atop the clock. Quickly yawning, he looked around to see if Jujirou was still asleep in their shared room, surprised to find his little brother already out. Spinning his head quickly to the clock, he noticed with a small amount of irritation at how late it had been set. Trying to remember if he had adjusted it before collapsing into sleep, he decided to have a few questions ready for Jujirou when he got downstairs.

Heading towards the boy's lavatories, he nodded as he passed one of Jujirou's new friends who was brushing his teeth. Allocating his own labelled towel, he disrobed and began showering, the thick steam help push the last vestiges of the late-night chill from his bones. With a clearer mind, he thought back to the end of the visit, past the debacle with Junko. He would talk to her later.

That shadow he had seen… A raccoon maybe? The thought made him feel somewhat wimpy, but to be equitable, he somewhat was. Besides, at least he was wise enough to keep his mouth shut. Satoda the other day mentioned seeing what he swore was a bear behind the school, but it was just someone's terrier digging through the trash. Ridiculed for weeks. No thank you.

Finishing up, Jumaru quickly brushed his teeth, running a quick comb through his hair to keep it at the nice crop he always liked. Father had always liked it this way.

Putting on his uniform, he made his way down to the mess hall on the second floor, bumping into one of his better friends of the past couple months on the way. Laughing quietly, the blonde sent his peer a rather pointed look.

"Since when did you rock the pompadour Nagase-san?" Said individual simply scowled, his black hair awkwardly limp and ill-devised as he tried to maintain a modicum of pride. Jinpei Nagase was in Jumaru's class, and a gift when it came to academic help. "Still trying to win Kunieda-san's affection?"

At that, Jinpei scowled, sticking his tongue out and gesturing rather rudely at the blonde. Unfortunately, it caused his hair to finally give up, the copious amounts of gel not enough to keep the fair strands together. With more laughter erupting from Jumaru, Jinpei turned around and started skulking up the stairs in a hope to fix his hair.

"You still have ten minutes! Just don't use my product!" In a much more joyous mood, he couldn't bring himself to rile up Junko as he sat next to her and Jujirou at one of the various tables strewn around the room. He did, however, gaze at his younger brother sternly.

"What have I told you about touching my things 'Jirou?" The younger brunette simply shrugged, biting down gleefully into a butter laden scone. Not bothering to swallow, he spoke as flakes and crumbs flew from his mouth.

"Though' ya' migh' wanna' 'leep in ya' know?" Grimacing, Jumaru simply shook his head, too amicable to bother sighing.

"Let me be the judge of that, okay?" Receiving a thorough nod, he began consuming his miso soup. "Good. Now finish your food before you choke on it." The three sat there having breakfast for some time, the ambient noise of the hall helping wake them up for the day ahead.

Jujirou looked at his watch, dashing upstairs to go locate something he most likely forgot. With the younger brother gone, the elder blonde gave his sister a passing glance, said girl pointedly ignoring the gaze. Finally mustering a sigh, he shook his head.

"Tonight then." Junko nodded, a tad lamely, before snatching up he knapsack and heading towards the front door just as Jujirou rushed back down the stairs. Following the two, he got in line with Junko as they awaited a bus destined for Karakura-Cho. With a honk, they both waved bye as Jujirou hopped on his own vehicle, ready for his day at Mashiba-Chu. Their own bus arriving, they went their separate ways, Junko joining her friends near the back corner as Jumaru located himself somewhere in the middle.

Taking a calming breath, he reached into his bag and pulled out an old Walkman, popping in one of the cassettes as some Stevie Wonder blared through his earbuds. Humming along, he relaxed into his seat, the beginnings of some well-deserved shut-eye interrupted as he felt a light tapping on his shoulder.

"Um… Jumaru-Kun… Are you awake?" With a bit of trepidation, the blonde indeed proved himself conscious, opening his eyes to a mane of orange hair and a nervous smile.

"Hello Inoue-san, what can I help you with?" Seeming content with the response, said girl plopped herself down next to him, rummaging through her schoolbag in search of something. While she did this, Jumaru began thinking as to why Orihime Inoue, unwitting queen of Karakura-Cho, was talking to him. She had been admitted to the orphanage about a week after he himself got there, and he'd only had brief interactions with her.

His thoughts were disrupted as she pulled out her literature textbook alongside a pen and paper, beginning to scribble something down. "Well, ya' see, Tatsuki-Chan and Kurosaki-Kun were talking to me the other day about what it was like living at the orphanage. Mostly if all the people were, ya' know, nice and stuff." Nodding along, Jumaru thought back to her admittance to their home. Her older brother Sora, he was her caretaker and he got very sick rather quickly. After his passing, her parents refused to take her back. 'Rather bright natured with all that on her chest.'

"Anyways, they were wondering if anyone in particular had been accommodating, so I mentioned how you helped me get settled in and everything, helping scare off that heckler." Jumaru did indeed remember helping her out, more because she had dropped a bunch of her books coming in and it would have been rude to help her with that and not help show her around. The heckler was someone from a different school, apparently not happy with how popular the quirky redhead was around town. A simple threat of police was enough to make the teen realize she was barking up the wrong tree.

"So, they asked me if I could introduce you to them. Personally, I think it's Tatsuki-chan just trying to get Kurosaki-kun to meet more people, not that that is a bad thing." She paused a moment in horror. "OH, and I don't mean to say they don't actually want to meet you, they are really too kind to me and want to thank you for helping, though I'm sure they want to meet you for more than just that…" The girl looked like she could go all day, so Jumaru silenced her with a friendly smile.

"I would enjoy such a meeting. Lunch, I presume?" Jumaru usually ate with Jinpei and Tetsuo at the grass field, but he supposed it wouldn't be terrible to mix things up. Orihime's smile was truthfully quite contagious, and only further ingrained his own onto his face.

"Perfect! I can't wait for you to meet them! I'm sure everyone will get along great! Here," Passing him the paper she had been writing on as they spoke, he realized with a slight twitch of his eye that the map was decorated with aliens.

"Inoue-san… I know how to get to the roof." Orihime paused, laughing awkwardly to herself before brightening again.

"Of course, silly, but now if the alien Mechazoids from Szoligar attack the school you will know how to avoid them on your way to the roof!" Jumaru sat very still as Orihime hurried her way back to a red-haired girl a decent distance back in the bus. With his shock eventually cooling, he reached for his backpack, gripping the fabric tightly.

"Arisawa and Kurosaki-san huh... This should be interesting." It wasn't every day you had lunch with the Second Best female fighter in Japan. Nor the resident 'Bad-Boy' Ichigo Kurosaki. He

was sure his journal would have quite the entry that night.

 **Scrapped the original, probably never really gonna' post that second chapter, but who knows. I actually have story beats written down this time. My writing has changed a bit, who woulda' thunk it. Anyways, I'll stop rambling.**

 **Noneofyourdamnbusiness14**


End file.
